ADJUNCT COMMITTEE
Chair Eric De Sena’s latest column Adjunct Matters / Adjuncts Matter appears further below in this issue. Please send related news, announcements, and comments to ericdwccft@gmail.com
CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS COMMITTEE
Chair Joyce Cassidy reports: “After working together for several semesters, the Constitution Committee is pleased to announce that we will be presenting Executive Committee-endorsed proposed changes to the WCCFT Constitution during the October and November monthly meetings. The desire is to have a ratification vote on the new Constitution by regular mail prior to the end of the Fall 2022 semester. An informational session will also be scheduled and announced for those unable to attend the regular monthly meetings.”
GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE
See the article A Day in the Life of a Grievance Chair by WCCFT Vice President Deirdre Verne.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
WCCFT Secretary and Membership Committee Chair Jen Gurahian reports: “WCCFT continues to press Administration to comply with its legal obligation to provide the union with full and non-redundant information about all currently active members of our collective bargaining unit (i.e. all faculty: full-time/part-time, teaching/nonteaching, academic degree program/continuing education). Such information should be transmitted in a timely manner and a usable format. To date, Administration has not done so.”
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE
Chair Ellen Zendman writes “From one monthly general membership meetings to the next, my message rarely changes; however, the reality is that each of you, through your voluntary donations to VOTE-COPE, have helped make our voices heard, and I simply want to say ‘Thank you!’”
“For those of you who are new to the WCCFT, VOTE-COPE, NYSUT’s nonpartisan political action arm, is the way for our voices to be heard. As reported during our September membership meeting, we have more than $8500 in our VOTE-COPE account! This is because of the generous contributions of our members, enabling us to support our local and state legislators and the committees they represent that are pro-education and pro-labor.”
“Please consider contributing if you have not done so yet and please, if you are already making a bi-weekly donation, consider increasing your contribution – every dollar counts!
To contribute please go to http://wcc.votecope.org/ ”
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUND (FORMERLY FACULTY DEVELOPMENT) COMMITTEE
Chair Gwen Roundtree Evans reports that “The WCCFT provides faculty development funds to faculty for professional activities conducted during each academic year. The committee recently approved 24 applications for funding from fulltime faculty, and applications from adjunct colleagues are currently being accepted. The application form may be accessed at:
“Applications from Adjunct Faculty for activities between September 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022, are due by Monday, October 31, 2022. You must have been a member of the WCCFT at the time of the activity in order to receive funds. Please send the completed application and supporting documentation to my union email: gwenrewccft@gmail.com so as not to clog up my college email. All files must be sent as pdfs. There are free apps on smartphones that will make a pdf using your camera (e.g, Scanner, Scannable, iScanner). If you are sending small receipts, please attach them (as many as possible), carefully ordered by date, into a pdf.”
“To assist you in completing the application form, a presentation created by committee member Mary Lou Sgro is available at:
http://www.sunywccft.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/PD-Appl-PPT.pdf
“Late applications are not accepted, so please make sure that your application is received well before Monday, October 31 in order to allow for any corrections to be made. I will let you know as soon as I have received your application and will check for any errors or omissions, so that you will still have time to make corrections before the deadline. Please note the mileage rates which have been included in the application. I am looking forward to receiving your application.”
SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
Chair Robin Graff reports that the WCCFT awarded three $500 scholarships to WCC students last semester. Awards were based on the excellence of their essays focusing on the value of unions in the workplace and the role of unions in social justice issues. The winners and their majors are:
- Daniel Edwin (Foods and Nutrition)
- Natasha Powell (Radiologic Technology)
- Daniela Tate (Health Science)
Robin asks that any colleague interested in participating in the committee write to her at robingwccft@gmail.com. The committee is currently raising funds for scholarships.